One World or None: A Report to the Public on the Full Meaning of the Atomic Bomb

A series of essays on the full meaning of the atomic bomb. Republished with a new introduction by Richard Rhodes, this 1946 New York Times bestseller was released seven months after World War II ended in fiery atomic bursts over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

In 1946, just months after atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the scientists who had developed nuclear technology came together to express their concerns and thoughts about the nuclear age they had unleashed. In a small, urgent book of essays, legends including Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein, and Robert Oppenheimer try to help readers understand the magnitude of their scientific breakthrough, fret openly about the implications for world policy, and caution, in the words of Nobel Prize-winning chemist Harold C. Urey, that "There is No Defense."

The original edition of One World or None sold 100,000 copies and was a New York Times bestseller. Today, with the nuclear issue front and center once more, the book is as timely as ever. Read an introduction written by Ivan Oelrich, Vice President of the FAS Strategic Security Program.